Western and Indigenous Approaches to
Economy, Ecology & Community

2006 Confirmed Participants

Leroy Little Bear, Ph.D. - Moderator
(Blackfoot) Former Director of Native Studies, Harvard University. Leroy was awarded the prestigious National Aboriginal Achievement Award for Education in 2003 (Canada). He is currently a professor of Native Studies at the University of Lethbridge, Canada.

Hazel Henderson, D.Sc.
Author, Independent  Futurist, Worldwide syndicated columnist, Advocate for and consultant on equitable ecologically sustainable human development and socially responsible business and investment. Her books include Beyond Globalization and Planetary Citizenship, and her numerous articles have appeared in the Harvard Business Review and the New York Times, among others.

Riane Eisler , Ph.D.
Author of the international bestseller The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future (1987); her forthcoming book The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics 2007) applies her research to policies that work for people and the Earth.

Lynne Twist
A global activist, fundraiser, author, and founder of the Soul of Money Institute. She has devoted her life to service in support of ending world hunger, global sustainability, human rights, economic integrity and spiritual authenticity. Lynne has raised millions of dollars, and trained thousands of fundraisers to be more effective in their work for organizations that serve the best instincts of all of us ­ eradicating poverty, empowering women, nurturing children and youth, and preserving the natural heritage of our planet.

Gregory Cajete, Ph.D.
(Santa Clara Pueblo) Greg is the director of the Native American Studies program at the University of New Mexico, as well as a practicing artist and educational consultant. He has taught at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, where he was the founding director of the Center for Research and Cultural Exchange. His publications include Look to the Mountain: An Ecology of Indigenous Education and Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence.

David Abram, Ph.D.
Author of The Spell of the Sensuous, Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human world; listed by Utne Reader as one of a hundred leading visionaries currently transforming the world.

Angayuaq Oscar Kawagley
Indigenous educator and faculty member at the University of Alaska's Native Studies Department. He has been executive director of several nonprofit corporations; President of ESCA Corporation, an earth science and remote sensing consulting company; President of Calista Corporation, a native regional corporation. Author of Yupiaq Worldview: A Pathway to Ecology and Spirit.

Walter Echo-Hawk, Jr., JD
(Pawnee) Senior attorney with the Native American Rights Fund; tribal judge, scholar and activist whose legal experience includes water rights and Native American religious freedom issues

Leon Secatero
(Canoncito Band of Navajo), Ceremonial Leader, former organizer of the Council of Indigenous Elders of North America.

Jesse Wolf Hardin
Jesse is an inspiring presenter, author of several books including Gaia Eros: Reconnecting To the Magic & Spirit of Nature (New Page, 2004) and codirector of The Animá Wilderness Learning Center, a reforested river canyon in New Mexico’s enchanted Gila wildlands.  His 30 years of teaching, writing and ecological activism has earned the praise of numerous luminaries including Gary Snyder, Terry Tempest Williams, Jerry Mander and Starhawk.

Chellis Glendinning, Ph.D.
Psychotherapist,  activist,  and author of five books -- including My Name Is Chellis and I'm in Recovery from Western Civilization (1994);  Off the Map: An Expedition Deep into Empire and the Global Economy (1999, 2003);  and Chiva: A Village Takes on the Global Heroin Trade (2005) -- and a bilingual folk opera De Un Lado Al Otro. Winner of numerous awards,  including the National Federation of Press Women 2000 Book Award.  Named in 2001 as one of the Utne Reader's "Visionaries."

Larry Littlebird
(Laguna and Santo Domingo Pueblos) is an author, director, actor, and master storyteller. He is the founder of White Dawn House, an Native non-profit organization dedicated to healing historical wounds and restoration among First Nations people.

Kathy Sanchez
(Powohge Oweenge) Co-founder of the Santa Fe based non-profit Tewa Women United culture, a group that raises awareness about environmental issues, domestic violence prevention, and drug and alcohol abuse. She was also the 1994 Green Party candidate for Lieutenant Governor with David Bacon.

Ashok Gangadean, Ph.D.
Ashok is a professor of Philosophy at Haverford College, Founder-Director of the Global Dialogue Institute and Co-Convenor of the World Commission on Global Consciousness & Spirituality. His interests include global ethics, global wisdom and the philosophy of logic and language.

Dennis Martinez
(O'odham/Chicano)Dennis is a scientist who has dedicated his career to building bridges between traditional indigenous and Western cultures. Born of O'odham/Chicano heritage, Dennis holds a degree from the University of California at Berkeley in History and Philosophy of Science (Darwinian evolution) and is the founder of the Indigenous Peoples Restoration Network.

Gary Deason, Ph.D.
Deputy Director of the Center for Sustainable Environments at Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ.

Elaine Cimino, M.A.
Artist /Activist, Director and Founder of Citizens for Environmental Safeguards of Santa Fe, NM. , Elaine works to designate a sole source aquifer system in Northern New Mexico and to protect water quality now and for future generations. 

Alfonso Montuori, Ph.D.
Professor and Program Director, Department of Transformative Learning and Transformative Leadership at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Alfonso is also a professional jazz musician, principal of Evolutionary Strategies, a consulting firm specializing in executive development, creativity and inovation, amd an author, including Evolutionary Competence and From Power to Partnership.

Nancy Maryboy, Ph.D.
(Dineh, Cherokee) Cosmologist, Adjunct Professor, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, Northern Arizona University; President, Indigenous Education Institute. Author, with Dr. David Begay, of Nanit’á Są’ąh Naagháí Nanit’á Bik’eh Hózhóón: Living the Order: Dynamic COsmic Process of Diné Cosmology.

Lynn Trojahn, M.A.
Lynn Trojahn has been in the development field for over 20 years working predominantly in the San Francisco Bay Area and now Albuquerque, her home town. She has a bachelor's degree in International Relations from Colgate University and a master's degree in International Management from the American Graduate School of International Management.

David Riley, BFA Architecture
(Laguna Pueblo) David specializes in incorporating pueblo spirituality into architectural design work. He has worked on projects on Taos Pueblo and Laguna Pueblo among others.

Ralph Metzner, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology Emeritus at the California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, Ralph is the author of The Unfolding Self, Green Psychology and The Well of Remembrance, among other books. He is founder-president of the Green Earth Foundation, dedicated to “Harmonizing Humanity with Earth and Spirit”. His work focusses on the necessary transition to an ecological systems worldview.

Taylor Selby, MA
Co-Founder of Earth Care International, a Santa Fe non-profit dedicated to building the awareness, knowledge, and commitment in teens necessary to create a thriving, just, and sustainable world. Taylor also holds a Masters in Environment and Community from Antioch University.

Christina Selby, MA
Co-Founder of Earth Care International (see above). Christina holds a Masters in Environment and Community through Antioch University Seattle.

Phillip H. Duran, M.S.
(Tigua) Physicist, former dean of Science and Mathematics, Northwest Indian College. His publications include Bringing Back the Spirit: Indian Ways of Wholenss for Church and Society in Crisis.

Linda Hogan, M.A.
(Chickasaw) poet and novelist, Linda's many books include Dwellings: A Spiritual History of the Living World and she is the recipient of numerous awards for her writing. The main focus of her work concerns the traditional indigenous view of and relationship to the land, animals and plants.

Richard Douthwaite
Richard is a writer, journalist, speaker, and professional economist. The author of the influential The Growth Illusion and Short Circuit: Strengthening Local Economies in an Unstable World, he is currently developing ways in which oil and gas depletion can be turned to humanity's advantage and how currency systems can cope with the change.

Margaret Hiza, Ph.D.
(Crow) Margaret works for the U.S. Geological Survey, where she directs a project that conducts field mapping and landscape change on the Navajo Nation. The project studies the effects of climate change through monitoring the movement of sand dunes and the levels of certain elements in the water.

Lloyd Pinkham, Ph.D.
(River People) Educator and specialist in traditional knowledge and native science. Lloyd is a traditional knowledge holder of the Columbia River salmon cycles. He is also a returning participant to the SEED Language of Spirit Dialogues.

Estevan Arellano
Estevan is the Mayordomo of the Embudo acequia, as well as a journalist and traditional New Mexican farmer. He has spent the last 20 years investigating the colonial origins of traditional agriculture in Northern New Mexico.

Allan Savory
Allan is the founder of Holistic Management International, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting effective land management and renewal practices across the globe.

David Bacon
David is a founding member of the Permaculture Credit Union, and co-founder of Local Energy, a non-profit fostering community energy self-reliance. He is also running for the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission on the Green Party ticket.

Osprey Orielle Lake
An artist and founder of the International Mari Monument Project, dedicated to celebrating the waters of the world. One of the country’s few women allegorical monument makers, Osprey creates sculptures that are dedicated to timely themes of cultural diversity, world unity and care for the earth.

Tony Clarke
Tony is the director of the Polaris Institute, which works to enable citizen movements to re-skill and re-tool themselves to fight for democratic social change in an age of corporate driven globalization. He serves on the board of the International Forum on Globalization and is the co-author, with Maude Barlow, of Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water.

Peter Warshall, Ph.D.
Trained as both a biologist and anthropologist, Peter has taken a big-picture view of the complexity of societal/cultural change. He works on all socioeconomic levels and with highly diverse peoples and ecosystems, believing that important beneficial change can come from many unexpected and untapped human sources. He enjoys public service and served in elected office for eight years.

Presenters - Alphabetical List

Abram, David
Arellano, Estevan
Bacon, David
Cajete, Greg
Cimino, Elaine
Clarke, Tony
Deason, Gary
Douthwaite, Richard
Duran, Phillip H.
Echo-Hawk, Jr., Walter
Eisler, Riane
Gangadean, Ashok
Glendinning, Chellis
Hardin, Jesse Wolf
Henderson, Hazel
Hiza, Margaret
Hogan, Linda
Kawagley, Angayuqaq Oscar
Lake, Osprey Orielle
Little Bear, Leroy
Littlebird, Larry
Martinez, Dennis
Maryboy, Nancy
Metzner, Ralph
Montuori, Alfonso
Pinkham, Lloyd
Riley, David
Sanchez, Kathy
Savory, Allan
Secatero, Leon
Selby, Christina
Selby, Taylor
Trojahn, Lynn
Twist, Lynne
Warshall, Peter